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🔋Mitochondria Mechanic🔬

@mitorandy.bsky.social

511 followers 98 following 63 posts

𝙈𝙞𝙩𝙤𝙘𝙝𝙤𝙣𝙙𝙧𝙞𝙖 in health, cardiovascular disease, & aging. PhD in mitochondrial physiology. Posts are my own opinions.

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🔋Mitochondria Mechanic🔬 @mitorandy.bsky.social · 02/02/2024

Some more fun #mitochondria science for Friday, from Bioenergetics 4th edition by Nicholls & Ferguson. Mitochondrial charge, respiration, and oxidant production relationships: 🧪

Figure from the textbook Bioenergetics 4th edition by Nicholls & Ferguson

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🔋Mitochondria Mechanic🔬 @mitorandy.bsky.social · 02/01/2024

How do proteins get into mitochondria? Another graphic from Bioenergetics 4th edition by Nicholls & Ferguson: 🧪

Image of a textbook figure and legend describing protein import to mitochondria.

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🔋Mitochondria Mechanic🔬 @mitorandy.bsky.social · 28/12/2023

Studying mitochondria in isolation has revealed complex bioenergetic relationships that are useful for understanding physiology in general. More good stuff from Bioenergetics 4th edition by Nicholls & Ferguson 🧪

Image of a textbook figure outlining metabolic control analysis for isolated bioenergetic organelles.

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🔋Mitochondria Mechanic🔬 @mitorandy.bsky.social · 27/12/2023

Mitochondria move around in cells 🔋🏎️ Heres another nice diagram from Bioenergetics 4th edition by Nicholls & Ferguson: 🧪

Image of a figure from a Bioenergetics textbook showing how mitochondria move in cells.

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🔋Mitochondria Mechanic🔬 @mitorandy.bsky.social · 20/12/2023

Mitochondria use an electro⚡chemical🧪 proton gradient. It's usually mostly electric potential, but different circumstances can increase the contribution of diffusion potential. A deep cut from Bioenergetics 4th edition by Nicholls & Ferguson 🔋

Photo of a textbook figure showing electrochemical gradient composition in bioenergetic membranes.

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🔋Mitochondria Mechanic🔬 @mitorandy.bsky.social · 13/12/2023

Mitochondria are little circuits in our cells. 🔌⚡💡🔋 Helpful analogy for interpreting many bioenergetics experiments. Another great figure from Bioenergetics 4th edition by Nicholls & Ferguson. 🧪

Image from a figure in the textbook Bioenergetics 4th edition by Nicholls & Ferguson. It shows how mitochondrial function is similar to an electric circuit.

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🔋Mitochondria Mechanic🔬 @mitorandy.bsky.social · 20/10/2023

Source is Wandering in the Gardens of the Mind by Prebble & Weber and the many publications by Mitchell & Moyle. (4/4)

The cover of Wandering in the Gardens of the Mind by Prebble & Weber

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🔋Mitochondria Mechanic🔬 @mitorandy.bsky.social · 20/10/2023

Dr. Moyle developed reproducible methods for isolating mitochondria from fresh animal tissue that are still used today, mostly unmodified! If you ever learned how to isolate mitochondria in a lab, you have her to thank. (2/4)

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🔋Mitochondria Mechanic🔬 @mitorandy.bsky.social · 20/10/2023

It's often forgotten that Dr. Jennifer Moyle was a brilliant experimentalist and science partner of Dr. Peter Mitchell—they set out to prove how mitochondria make ATP using proton gradients. 🧪 Shamefully, Mitchell was the only one to get the Nobel Prize 🧵👇(1/4)

Photo from a book of Dr. Peter Mitchell & Dr. Jennifer Moyle.

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🔋Mitochondria Mechanic🔬 @mitorandy.bsky.social · 18/10/2023

Mitochondrial battery analogy from the earliest days in bioenergetics! 🔋🧪 Fun drawing from Peter Mitchell's biography, Wandering in the Gardens of the Mind by Prebble & Weber.

A page from a book with a cartoon outlining several ideas about mitochondrial energy transduction.

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🔋Mitochondria Mechanic🔬 @mitorandy.bsky.social · 15/10/2023

Mitochondria both make and deal with oxidants ⚡ You may have heard about reactive oxygen species (ROS), free radicals, and antioxidants—mitochondria help make sure they're all balanced in cells. More good stuff from Bioenergetics by Nicholls & Ferguson 🧪

A page from the textbook Bioenergetics 4th edition by Nicholls & Ferguson explaining mitochondrial reactive oxygen species production and detoxification

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🔋Mitochondria Mechanic🔬 @mitorandy.bsky.social · 10/10/2023

🔋⚡🧪

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🔋Mitochondria Mechanic🔬 @mitorandy.bsky.social · 10/10/2023

Mitochondrial functions can be modeled as a circuit. I love the battery analogy, 🔋 but this is more accurate. Another gem from Bioenergetics 4th edition by Nicholls & Ferguson. Description in replies 👇 🧪

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🔋Mitochondria Mechanic🔬 @mitorandy.bsky.social · 26/09/2023

And here's Table 3.1 for reference: 🧪

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🔋Mitochondria Mechanic🔬 @mitorandy.bsky.social · 26/09/2023

Here's a super important concept from a great textbook, often misunderstood in the literature. Mitochondria and equilibrium thermodynamics! 🧪

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